Consumers face a variety of options when purchasing travel-related products. Consumers may reserve and purchase directly from the travel providers, may seek assistance in reservation and booking from a travel agency, or may search for and purchase travel-related products over the Internet from online booking services.
One example is airline tickets. No matter which approach customers choose when making their reservations and purchases, airfare prices can change frequently and unpredictably. Airlines often adjust their prices to respond to demand or changes in the marketplace. As a result, customers may be hesitant to finalize a purchase. The unpredictable fluctuations in prices can result in uncertainty regarding the best time to buy. Should customers purchase too early, they may miss out on subsequent lower prices. Should consumers wait too long to finalize a purchase, they may end up paying more, having failed to take advantage of previously lower priced airfares. Many airlines offer travel vouchers, travel credits, or cash rebates should a customer discover a lower priced airfare. Online travel booking services provide similar vouchers, credits, or rebates if customers discover subsequently lower priced airfares. However, the vouchers, credits, and rebates offered by airlines and online travel booking services typically come with time limits within which a customer must act to take advantage of the lower priced airfare. Additionally, consumers must initiate the process themselves to obtain these offers by applying (and at times paying) for such services, completing claim forms, and contacting customer service representatives.
A variety of approaches have been developed to address continuous price fluctuations in airfares. One approach uses predictive systems to make suggestions regarding the point at which a customer should make a final purchase. These predictive systems utilize technologies that analyze historic flight and fare data to predict whether prices may increase or decrease in the future. Based on these predictions, customers can finalize their purchases when they feel comfortable with the price. However, these predictive technologies do not adequately alleviate consumers' hesitations when purchasing tickets. While the consumer possesses more knowledge on which to base the decision to purchase, the risk still exists that prices will subsequently drop requiring customers to continue to monitor flights and airfares.
Another approach employs a system to provide customers with alerts regarding available airfares. Customers may use these systems to monitor airfares and make a purchase when they are alerted to a price they find acceptable. If the customer receives an alert, and the alert indicates the availability of a lower priced airfare after the purchase is made, the customer may attempt to contact an airline to seek a voucher, credit, or rebate. However, these price alert systems similarly fail to adequately address customers' fears and hesitations in making a final purchase as customers must still take extra steps when seeking to obtain lower priced airfares. After notification is made, customers must then contact the airlines where the purchase was made and attempt to acquire the lower priced airfares. Furthermore, in many instances, customers must act within the time period in which the lower priced airfare is available. Should the customer miss the alert, the customer may miss the opportunity to acquire the lower priced airfare if prices subsequently rise. In addition, these alert systems may require the customer to manually input the information necessary to set up flights to track. Because these systems rely on the customer to provide this information, the process is prone to manual error. Should a customer make a mistake in providing the information, the alert system may not monitor the appropriate flights, if at all.
Another approach allows a customer to secure, or “lock in,” an airfare obtained from a search of flights and airfares. When a customer performs a search, an acceptable airfare may be presented. However, the customer may wish to defer a final purchase in case airfare prices subsequently drop. On the other hand, the customer may wish a final purchase had been made if airfare prices subsequently rise. This approach provides a service whereby a customer, for a fee, may secure an acceptable airfare for a predetermined number of days allowing the customer to defer a final purchase for that time period. If the customer decides to make a final purchase within that time period, and the purchased airfare is higher than the secured airfare, the service provides a rebate to the customer. This rebate amount does not depend upon the price of the airfare for the flight the customer ultimately chooses; instead the rebate amount depends upon the lowest possible fare the customer could have chosen on the day in which the customer finalizes the purchase. Thus, the rebate is equal to the difference between secured airfare and the lowest airfare available on the day on which the customer made the final purchase. However, these systems also do not address situations in which airfares drop after the date of purchase. Currently, these systems only secure a price up until the date the ticket is purchased. They do not address prices after a purchase has been made.
Because these approaches may be time consuming, may require additional steps to obtain rebates, and may be prone to error, customers may choose to forego these options. Thus, a need exists to improve the process of providing customers with the ability to automatically receive rebates for product purchases and to provide assurance that purchases made will be at a cost not higher than a subsequently made purchase for the same product.